It takes trump: what is hydroxychloroquine and he protects from coronavirus

The US President Donald trump said at a briefing in the White house that began in the preventive purposes to take the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, despite claims by the world health organization that there is no convincing evidence for the efficacy of this drug in the fight against coronavirus. About it writes BBC.

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Moreover, the Administration of sanitary inspection behind quality of foodstuff and medicines USA (FDA) in April issued a recommendation that evidence of safety and efficacy of hydroxychloroquine to combat the coronavirus there.

With regard to the prevention of disease Covid-19 using this drug, to date there is no conclusive evidence that hydroxychloroquine or drugs of similar action may prevent infection with a coronavirus, although clinical trials in this direction are underway in a number of countries, particularly in USA, UK, Spain and China.

What is hydroxychloroquine and why it is used?

Hydroxychloroquine — a later and less toxic version of the drug chloroquine, and has a more pronounced antiviral and anti-inflammatory effect.

Both drugs have cardiotoxicity and can cause arrhythmia and tachycardia, especially in patients with existing cardiovascular diseases — as previously warned by the FDA in connection with the use of these two drugs for the treatment of Covid-19 in an outpatient setting or during clinical trials.

According to a clinical testing carried out in the US on 368 patients of the veterans hospital, mortality in those patients Covid-19 who took hydroxychloroquine were higher than those who took the standard treatment.

Vice-President of the International society of research in the field of antiviral drugs Professor Catherine Sat-Radtke also believes that chloroquine is given too much attention in the absence of evidence of its effectiveness when Covid-19.

“More importantly, it can have dangerous side effects and give people false hope,” wrote the Professor.

Why in some countries anti-malarial agents used for the treatment Covid-19?

Since the strain of the coronavirus SARS-Cov-2, causing Covid-19, has appeared recently, it is new and unexplored, while there is no single approved drug, which would help the patient to cope with the resulting complications.

Therefore, doctors all over the world in these situations may resort to the practice of using some existing drugs outside was testimony, not for its intended purpose.

Does Russia hydroxychloroquine at Covid-19?

In the provisional recommendations of the Ministry of health for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment Covid-19 anti-malarial drugs are listed as promising.

“Among the drugs promising for treatment of COVID-19, it should be noted group of antimalarial medicines: chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, mefloquine. These drugs are used for therapy of malaria and other protozoal infections”, — stated in the recommendations.

It also specifies that the mechanism of action of anti-malarial drugs in viral infections is not fully understood, but there is reason to believe that they can prevent the penetration of virus into the cells and its replication.

“In a small clinical studies have shown that the combination [of antibiotics] azithromycin with hydroxychloroquine enhances the antiviral effect of the latter”, — stated in the training manual of the Ministry of health.

Also it contains a warning that before therapy with antimalarial drugs is necessary to pay special attention to the patient’s ECG as chloroquine and its derivatives can influence the QTc prolongation (to induce ventricular tachyarrhythmia).

At the end of April the head of the Moscow Ambulance Nikolai plavunov, Covid of cases-19 confirmed that was treated with hydroxychloroquine in combination with antibiotics.

“I took the azithromycin first, then came the pneumonia, levofloxacin added. Quite effectively dealt with it,” said the doctor in this interview.

He also acknowledged that there is a system of prevention among Russian doctors and to the question “Too hydroxychloroquine?” said: “In particular, Yes. It is clear that the workers that would realize the failures of prevention efforts there.”

The guidelines of the Ministry of health also States that in a pandemic in some countries is drug prevention chloroquine with hydroxychloroquine and mefloquine.

As for Russia, such prophylaxis is recommended for certain groups of the population in two cases: when post-exposure prophylaxis after a single contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19 and to prevent the persons in the hearth of infection.

In which countries are allowed antimalarial drugs in Covid-19?

In U.S. food and drug administration in late March approved the use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of Covid-19 in limited cases in the hospital environment as emergency measures.

In France doctors are also allowed to prescribe these drugs to patients with coronavirus.

In India recommended the use of hydroxychloroquine for the prevention of health care workers and those who are in contact with the infected with coronavirus and got a prescription from a physician.

In some Middle East countries such as Bahrain, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia permitted the use of these drugs or being clinical studies.

The experts around the world warn against self-nominations and uncontrolled use of anti-malaria drugs, stressing that they should only be used as experimental drugs, and only in cases of emergency.

As previously wrote ForumDaily:

Trump said at a briefing in the White house, to prevent infection with coronavirus recently started taking hydroxychloroquine, which experts warn may be unsafe.